Pop Culture References in WoW Achievements

We're continuing our series of pop culture references in WoW with a look at achievements! From Arrested Development to Portal, Blizzard has sampled a variety of popular games, songs, books, movies, and TV shows for achievement names and criteria.

We've previously published two other guides, and have more to come for player references, NPCs, quests, and zones:

World of Warcraft Community

Blue Response: Joke about WoW forum behavior--blue posters responding is quite rare, and after threads receive a blue response, many players complain and argue, which scares them off just like the achievement criteria.

I've Gone and Made a Mess (10 player): Reference to the iconic boss Moroes, who exclaims 'Oh, I've gone and made a mess!' whenever he Garroted a raid member, which generally ended badly during The Burning Crusade.

Zelda

Friend or Fowl?: Reference to the Cuccos in Zelda who are initially peaceful, but if one is attacked, it will summon an angry flock that will peck you to death. After completing this achievement, many neutral animals like shoveltusks and stags will aggro you in Howling Fjord.

Zero Wing

General

Ancient Culture

The Boy Who Would be King: Tutankhaten, or King Tut, is frequently known as the boy king of Ancient Egypt. His lavish and unspoiled tomb provided valuable insights into the culture of Ancient Egypt, which Uldum artifacts draw upon.

Four Square: In four square a ball is passed between players following rules decided upon by the highest-ranked player, and the objective is to eliminate players with fouls and move up.

Famous Figures

Fireside Chat: Fireside chats were a series of evening radio addresses given by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to facilitate direct communication between the president and the American public.

Kickin' It Up a Notch: Reference to the famous celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse whose catchphrases include "Bam!" and "Kick it up a notch!" which is reflected in the achievement text. He is known for his spicy Creole food, which is reflected in the dishes needed for the achievement.

Ironman Triathalon

Ironman: The Ironman Triathlon is a grueling race requiring participants to complete a marathon run, bike ride, and swim without a break. While not nearly as physically exhausting, the achievement requires players to get all the flag captures in WSG without dying, which is quite tricky.

Pepto Bismol

Politics

To the Looter Go the Spoils: References the spoils system in which the winning political party promotes people based on loyalty over merit. The phrase was coined by William L. Marcy referring to Andrew Jackson's victory.

Religion

Newbs to Plowshares: References to swords to ploughshares from the Book of Isaiah, showing how military equipment can be repurposed in times of peace. This achievement requires you to win the battleground quickly, minimizing bloodshed.

The Fifth Element

The Long Riders

The Matrix

You'll Feel Right as Rain: Famous quote from the Oracle to Neo--"Here, take a cookie. I promise by the time you're done eating it, you'll feel right as rain." This achievement requires a player to eat 91 Chocolate Cookies which apply a stacking Satisfied buff.

Jimmy Buffett

La Di Da Di

Lodi Dodi We Loves the Skadi:First performed by by Doug. E Fresh and MC Ricky D (Slick Rick), this song has been frequently sampled and referenced in other hip hop songs. Snoop Dogg later covered this song as "Lodi Dodi."

Led Zeppelin

Heartbreaker (10 player): "Heartbreaker" features a famous improvised guitar riff ranked #16 of all time by Guitar Worlds, and was released in 1969 as part of the album Led Zeppelin II.

M. C. Hammer

Men Without Hats

The Safety Dance (10 player): "The Safety Dance" was part of the Rhythm of Youth album (1983). The in-game version requires players to "dance" correctly and successfully avoid the harmful areas of the floor with green goo.

Survivor

Star-Spangled Banner

The lyrics for the American national anthem, "And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air, / Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there" are seen in the following achievements: The Rocket's Red Glare and The Rocket's Pink Glare.

Tower of Power

Towers of Power: Tower of Power is a prolific band that has been active and touring since 1968. The horn section is particularly well known and has performed at many championship games in the San Francisco area.

Captain Planet

Our Powers Combined: In this animated series, five teenagers would combine their special rings together to summon Captain Planet when the villains were too strong. When he appeared, he would cry, "By your powers combined, I am Captain Planet!"

Dragon Ball Z

Deadliest Catch

Deadliest Catch: This achievement for fishing up Gahz'ranka in original Zul'Gurub shares the name with a reality TV show on the Discovery Channel focusing on life aboard fishing vessels during dangerous fishing seasons.

Doctor Who

Ritualist Who?: All of the possible NPCs that spawn each week leading to Dark Animus are named after classic Doctor Who monster and alien races. Click on the links below to learn more about each race:

Green Acres

Green Acres: Tribute to the 70s sitcom in which sophisticated characters move from the city to the country and face a number of farming challenges. This achievement is tied to the Tillers' farm in Pandaria.

Comment by Nhome

Comment by huntercry

Stay Klaxxi should be in the music section. All the parts of the achiement are legendary metal songs. Rainign blood, Master of Puppets, iron man etc etc

Comment by Furydeath

on Sat, 11 Jan 2014 16:01:51 -0600

Even tho it's kinda hidden there is Data Miner's Delight for the Yo Dawg set. And Maws from the AQ quest line.

Comment by Shydow

on Sat, 11 Jan 2014 16:22:36 -0600

The "Dinner Impossible" achievement is more likely a reference to the Food Network show "Dinner: Impossible," which involved challenges like preparing meals for large quantities of people and/or in unlikely places.

Comment by Rubber1

Comment by Necrowolf82

on Sat, 11 Jan 2014 17:41:13 -0600

excellent list! As for the Rat Pack they are so much more than a group of actors. This group was some of the hottest talent in their day. The description here seems to be more or less lifted from the first and last line of the opening wiki page.

The most famous (in my opinion, having grown up in the 80s through now) was the 60s incarnation of Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr, and a few others. These guys shaped Vegas in its early years, had serious mob ties, and were some of the first major performers to push heavily against segregation in theater and movies (it's said during one performance they arrived to do a show and Sammy was asked to use the Blacks Entrance, Frank was said to make it clear he (Sammy) was to enter with them (the rat pack) and receive the same treatment as them; his word was not questioned and the show went on. It is thought his ties to the mob made his word unquestionable).

These guys might not be well known today, but they did shape our entertainment standards as we know them today.

Comment by rehlyihmah

Oh damn, I always thought it's a reference to Last Christmas by Wham... "Once bitten, then twice shyI keep my distance, but you still catch my eye" ... and so on. all this time I got that song stuck in my head for nothing.

Comment by Difdi

on Sat, 11 Jan 2014 19:50:06 -0600

The Ghost of Lin Da-Gu that you must fight in the Temple of the Jade Serpent for the Bad Feeling, Worse Result step in the quest chain that unlocks noodle cart recipes is an A-Team reference from the old TV series.

The Team were once captured and thrown into a prison camp. The camp commander liked to weaken prisoners so they could not escape, so he starved them -- not caring much if they died as a result. The camp's cook, Lin Duk Coo, sneaked food to the prisoners to keep them alive. All this came out in the A-Team episode, Recipe For Heavy Bread.

Comment by restomak

on Sat, 11 Jan 2014 20:54:23 -0600

I'm fairly certain there's a quest in Krasarang Wilds in which NPCs make a comment about arrows to the knee. That could be added to the Skyrim section.

Comment by TomatoSauce

Comment by Deepfriar

In the Undead starting area, there are four NPCs named after members of Oingo Boingo. Dead Man's Party, anyone? ;)

Comment by Jarret6

on Sun, 12 Jan 2014 00:02:14 -0600

Who wants to bet there will be tons of Breaking Bad references in WoD.

Comment by zerezam

on Sun, 12 Jan 2014 00:09:47 -0600

Nice collection, though it's definitely not complete.. and some of them might be by pure coincidence, such as the salt and pepper one. Not sure if that's really a reference to the vocalist group but more of a reference to the fact that there's two different peaks in that BG, Hence "salt and pepper".

BTW, Jezartroz, Danger zone cannot be a referene to Archie, it's more of a reference to Top Gun, and the song that was played on it. Hence, the whole thing is to crash another's flying toy plane.